Eknath Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis of the Maha Yuti and Uddhav Thackeray, Sanjay Raut of the MVA.
Credit: PTI File Photos
Mumbai: After the brutal drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP-led Maha Yuti (NDA) scored a victory in the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls defeating the Maha Yuti (I.N.D.I.A) which risked putting up an additional candidate.
This comes as a boost to the ruling alliance ahead of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections.
The biennial elections to Council - for which the electoral college is Assembly’s current 274 members - were held to fill 11 vacancies.
However, 12 candidates were in fray in the polls and the MVA risk did not paid off.
The Left-wing Peasants and Workers Party of India candidate Jayant Patil, who was backed by Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), lost the polls.
Shiv Sena (UBT) head and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s PA Milind Narvekar, often referred to as his Man Friday, won the elections.
Congress candidate Dr Pradnya Satav, the wife of late MP Rajeev Satav, who is close to the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi, too won the polls for the second time.
The BJP-led alliance, which had the numbers to win nine seat, came out with a cent-percent result.
The five BJP candidates who won the polls are veteran OBC leader Pankaja Munde, Yogesh Tilekar, the President of Bharatiya Janata Party OBC Morcha, Dr Parinay Phuke, a former minister, Amit Gorkhe, former Chairman of the Lokshahir Anna Bhau Sathe Development Corporation and Sadabhau Khot, a veteran farmers leader and President of Rayat Kranti Sanghatana, who is an ally of BJP.
The Eknath Shinde-ledShiv Sena candidates Krupal Tamhane Bhavana Gawali, who were dropped from Ramtek and Yavatmal-Washim, respectively, in the Lok Sabha elections, won the elections easily.
The Ajit Pawar-led NCP fielded Shivajirao Garje and Rajesh Vitekar and both of them emerged victorious.